Václav Kopecký

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Václav Kopecký
Kopecký in 1948
Minister of Information of Czechoslovakia
In office
5 April 1945 – 31 January 1953
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Minister of Culture of Czechoslovakia
In office
14 September 1953 – 12 December 1954
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byLadislav Štoll
Personal details
Born(1897-08-27)27 August 1897
Austria Hungary
Died5 August 1961(1961-08-05) (aged 63)
Prague, Czechoslovakia
(now Czech Republic)
Political partyCommunist Party of Czechoslovakia
Alma materFaculty of Law of the Charles University
AwardsOrder of Klement Gottwald
Signature

Václav Kopecký (27 August 1897 – 5 August 1961)

cosmopolitanism; he also stage-managed the Slánský trial
.

Early career

He had a proletarian upringing as the thirteenth child of a small tradesman and

expulsion of Sudeten Germans. Expressing hope that the Jewish question would "forever disappear... as a decoy for reactionary elements",[4]
Kopecký declared:

Those Jews who feel themselves to be Germans or Hungarians must face the same measures that will be taken against the Germans and Hungarians in Czechoslovakia. The liquidation of anti-Semitism does not mean that we will grant the Jews special privileges if they feel themselves to be Germans or Hungarians. Nor will we allow those who feel themselves to be Germans and Hungarians to hide their true feelings behind the claim of Jewishness. Liquidation of anti-Semitism cannot be allowed to cause harm to the national and Slavic character of the future Czechoslovak Republic.[5]

Minister

See also: Anti-cosmopolitan campaign

He served as the Minister of Culture and Information in the postwar Czechoslovak government.

death of Jan Masaryk, Kopecký instructed the media not to mention Masaryk's name.[8]

According to Jewish historian

Petschek, Weinmann, Rothschild, Gutman" of "blood-sucking" and argued that wealthy Jews could not live in the people's democracy.[11] He also objected to the resettlement of Jews from Carpathian Ruthenia in postwar Czechoslovakia.[12] For Rudolf Slánský's fiftieth birthday in July 1951, Kopecký lauded him in the party newspaper Rudé právo and claimed that "already at home and at primary school [Slánský] absorbed a full-blooded native Czechness".[13] Despite their former association, Kopecký became a personal enemy of Slánský and was involved in the Slánský trial as one of the main stage managers of the show trial.[2] In December 1951, he complained that many of the alleged conspirators "come from wealthy Jewish families" and that "the great part of people with a Jewish origin" subscribe to "cosmopolitan thinking".[2] According to Kopecký, this demonstrated that the party was not taking the anti-cosmopolitan campaign seriously enough and was underestimating the "very serious danger" posed by Zionism.[2] Jewish historian Karel Kaplan described Kopecký as "the party ideologue of show trials".[14]

Later life and career

On 31 January 1953 Václav Kopecký became deputy prime minister in the Antonín Zápotocký government and took over this office on 21 March 1953 in the first government Viliam Široký in which on 14 September 1953 became first deputy prime minister. He was also Minister of Culture in the Široký government from 14 September 1953 to 12 December 1954. He also took over the post of Deputy Prime Minister in the second Široký government.[citation needed]

Kopecký resigned from government positions on 12 December 1954. However, he remained a member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine and retained a strong party influence. Kopecký adhered to a Stalinist line, trying to keep the party in the positions of the Gottwald period under the new conditions.[15]

Václav Kopecký died in Prague on 5 August 1961 of a pulmonary embolism. He was given a state funeral.[citation needed]

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-80-85983-44-9
    .
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-1-317-60821-9
    .
  3. ISBN 978-0-7190-5546-1
    .
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-90-04-36244-4
    .
  5. ISBN 978-1-107-03666-6
    .
  6. ^
    ISBN 978-1-78238-997-2
    .
  7. ^
    ISBN 978-90-04-19357-4
    .
  8. ^ "Fünf männer kamen nach mitternacht". Der Spiegel. No. 15. 1965. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  9. YIVO Encyclopedia
    . Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  10. ^ Meyer, Peter (1 September 1952). "The Jewish Purge in the Satellite Countries: Behind the Communist Turn to Anti-Semitism". Commentary. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  11. S2CID 144749278
    .
  12. ^ "Czech Minister Denies Anti-semitism, but Repeats Charges Against Carpathian Jews". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 3 April 1947. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  13. S2CID 152220999
    .
  14. ISBN 978-0-8142-0477-1
    .
  15. ^ Ceska Televize. "Čestní občané: Václav Kopecký". Česká televize (in Czech). Retrieved 5 October 2021.

Further reading

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